T20 shows good fielders as … good fielders!

A good batsman or a bowler in Tests and ODIs may not live up to his status in T2o cricket.Those who tend to be effective in T20 may not evoke awe in the traditional form of the game. But a good fielder generally tends to be effective across formats.

And the reason seems to be simple. Fielding is the last line of the cricketing process. Hence it’s more flowing. And it’s undesignated unlike batting or bowling. Unlike a batsman or a bowler, a fielder is not aware when he will come into play. Hence he must excel in two additional skills… the alertness and waiting game. He is not too consumed by fear or sense of dominance that the batters and bowlers experience. Least influenced by psychology, the fielding skills tend to react more on merit rather than circumstances.

Of course, there are exceptional situations during a tight match where a fielder’s mental makeup comes into play. But that is not as pronoucned as batting and bowling. However, the fielders who specialize in close-in catching positions may not be succesful in T20 because close-in catching doesn’t come into play too much in the shortest format of the game.

I had suggested way back that the IPL must introduce substitute fielders to ensure that athletic entertainers who miss the monetary bus due to inconsistent batting and bowling get rewarded. I am thinking a bit sympathetically about fielders thanks to Lynn’s spectacular catch in the IPL. But don’t forget the presence of mind of a KKR fielder who didn’t throw the last ball from long-off to the non-strikers end.

He knew the opponents needed four to win off one ball; and can get a maximum of two runs. So, he was not desperate to run them out for a second run. Instead, he ran with the ball in his hand to the non-strikers end.

Are normal runners really faster than hurdlers? Not sure. For, the difference between the 400m winners and 400m hurdles winners is only about 4-5 seconds.

The hurdlers generate great momentum with their sprint-jump-sprint-jump routine. So, if a hurdler decides to run the normal 400 by assuming that there are hurdles in the way and hence hops and floats, it may look funny, but he may surprise some of us. The bigger question is: if a hurdler also practises in non hurdle events, can be among the cream athletes in both the categories?

In swimming you can use any stroke in the freestyle event but am not sure if that’s applicable in athletics vis-a-vis running and hurdles, that is mock jump-sprint routine!!

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And finally, let me shamelessly confess that I loved the news of Nadal’s two successive defeats at Monte Carlo and Barcelona.

Again, I don’t have anything against Rafa. But like Tendulkar’s fans, even his fans are unreasonable and suffer from selective blindness.

To say Rafa is as good a player as Federer is blasphemy. For Federer is Mark Waugh’s poetry plus Sachin’s consistency and stats. To say such tennis royalness is smaller than Steve Waugh’s (read Rafa’s) kingdom is pathetic.

Yes we must give weightage to head-to-head record while judging about Federer and Nadal. But then, tennis and timeless greatness (something that Federer seems to possess) is much more than that.

For the beauty’s sake, I don’t want Rafa to overtake Federer’s Grand Slam tally. However, losing in Moanco and Spain is no good news for Federer fans. For Rafa will be angrier and hungrier at Roland Garros!!

DISCLAIMER : Views expressed above are the author's own.

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Amit Karmarkar is sports editor at The Times of India in Pune. He started writing for a Marathi fortnightly and a newspaper at the age of 17 (in 1990). From being a mad fan of Sunil Gavaskar and John McEnroe, he has turned a bit cynical towards cricket, thanks to a barrage of insignificant matches, BCCI politicians and "source" stories.

Amit Karmarkar is sports editor at The Times of India in Pune. He started writing for a Marathi fortnightly and a newspaper at the age of 17 (in 1990). From. . .